The Oklahoma City Thunder fell to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday. The OKC Thunder were awful for the most part in Houston; what went wrong for Mark Daigneault’s squad? The Thunder saw Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dominate, but everyone else struggled mightily. Tre Mann got minutes! Josh Giddey’s struggles continue. Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren were off. What should the Thunder do with Giddey? Can OKC rebound from this loss? Is the sky falling?
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10 Comments
I personally feel like this is the first 'real loss' of the season that doesn't fall into the narrative of, 'they are a young team and this was a good learning experience.'
Losing to Houston is embarrassing.
They need guys that can rebound period.
OKC has been gang rebounding yet they aint getting anything resulting the Rockets shooters open asf and killed them in threes.
They need to decide which is the permanent 2nd option between JDub and Chet.
The other team game plans. Just like Thunder would. I don't see Rockets going in the playoffs, so whatever 'playoff' like strategies, they're not hiding / saving them. Will use it on opposing teams unabashedly.
The playbook on Giddey. Explained well in segment 1. What to do on Chet. Emphasis on rebounds. Going in, doesn't Thunder have one of the strongest bench in the league this season. So Rockets looked at it and said ok your bench vs ours, and Aaron Holiday cooked.
Their back up big (Jeff Green and lesser extent Jock Landale) were unavailable. So they actually had to stretch Sengun's normal playing minutes. Also shift around Jabari to small ball 5. Jabari isn't always a good small dose 5, but he ended with 18 REB, because Thunder played small and didn't bang.
Rocket's home record is 9w-1L. With home wins over teams like the Nuggets and a blowing out of the Lakers. Their offense is very mid, but keeping teams to a range of 101, is actually normal when at home.
That game was so hard to watch. Could relate to move to small Ball lineups and i thought the perimeter scoring, pace and agility worked out as i planed when watching the starting lineup finding no rythm against good interior D of Houston but damn i had the feeling they Played the whole game with These guys even when udoka reacted well defensivly and we ran right in to it. Bertans could have brought some disruptive constant movement and 3point potential and After watching giddey and dub fumbling one drive after another i dont understand leaving vasa on the bench( a Player used to create room when there is none)
The rebounding hurt for sure. But the starters other than shai didn't play well. Chet played well defensively but he scared to shoot now
Thank God good discourse.
My expectations for the thunder to begin with was a lot lower so what's done is done and lets improve
I think if we bench him we lose him. Make him watch Russ and KLove and his old tape. If nothings falling I still want 10-12 rebounds out of you.
This is hard mentally? Well you like Kobe’s shoes. Welcome to the hard parts of Kobe’s career.
Man losing to Minnesota sucks but my gosh Houston?come on we need another clear star
I dont have a problem w/ Mark playing Tre' Mann. Mark has done a good job of keeping Giddeys min low.. He didnt play Dort much when he didnt have it. The only criticism I ever have is the few times he plays Lindy. Marks done a great job this yr. Thunder are ahead of Den, Lakers, Mia, Kings, Suns, Knicks, Clippers & Pels.. I'll take it.